For eons we females had been capable of giving birth with very little medical intervention. Then childbirth went into the hospital, and the process became a medical and increasingly surgical event.

It’s sad really. I’m not saying that all women don’t need a hospital and that all births can be achieved non-medically, but what makes me sad is the shift in how pregnancy and childbirth are viewed by our society. Pregnancy and birth used to be normal and expected events in a woman’s life. Now when you tell someone that you are pregnant they ask you if you have a first trimester ultrasound scheduled yet. When you respond by saying that you don’t plan to utilize ultrasound technology unless it becomes medically necessary, they cock their heads, look at you funny, and respond with a suspicious “huh!”

Shaevel continues:

When Nancy Wainer and I wrote “Silent Knife” in 1983, we hoped our work would reverse the trend and give women confidence in their bodies’ innate ability to birth their babies. If this trend of surgical intervention in the natural process of childbirth continues, the only women who will birth their babies naturally 50 years from now will be those who don’t make it to the hospital in time for their caesareans.

Some women are finding ways to become more confident in their bodies. I joined the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) which greatly increased my confidence and understanding that a repeat cesarean would likely be unnecessary. However, the doctors will always find a way to rob us of our confidence. One ICAN list member was told early on in her pregnancy that s/he was supportive of her choice to VBAC. Now at 36 weeks she’s been told to schedule a repeat cesarean. This is not an uncommon story.

Here are my thoughts on how/why this keeps happening to women who desire vaginal birth after a cesarean (VBAC). Perhaps the doctor just wants the business and thinks s/he will be able to change the patient’s mind along the way? Perhaps the doctor believes in a woman’s choice but loses confidence along the way? Perhaps in losing confidence in the mother along the way, the doctor is thinking about the legal consequences of not performing an elective repeat cesarean? Perhaps the doctor, losing confidence along the way or thinking s/he can coerce the patient into surgery, also has the $$ in his/her eyes since surgical birth costs so much more than vaginal birth? Perhaps the doctor knows that VBAC labor can take longer, and since s/he will have to be more readily accessible thanks to ACOG directives, s/he pushes for the quicker solution – major abdominal surgery? Perhaps the doctor is more afraid of the uncertainty of normal (as in natural) birth because s/he is not familiar with it versus that which s/he is trained to do – perform surgery?

“It’s important for us to step back and say, ‘Why is this happening, and is it in the best interest of the public?’ ” said [the state’s secretary of health and human services, Dr. JudyAnn] Bigby, whose research before entering state government had focused on women’s health issues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “This is not a minor surgical procedure; it’s a big deal. We need to understand why this trend continues.” [emphasis mine]

She is “sufficiently alarmed” that her state’s cesarean rate now eclipses the national average of 31.1%.

Obstetricians’ fears of lawsuits may also fuel some of the increase.

“There’s no doubt about the medical-legal burden; the litigious nature of society has an impact on this,” said Dr. Fred Frigoletto, chief of obstetrics at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Very few obstetricians have been litigated because they did a C-section. But they’re always litigated because they didn’t do one.”

Fear of litigation is NEVER an appropriate motivator for medicalized childbirth. Interventive practices are only appropriate when there is sound evidence of need. Basing medical opinion, advice, and practices on a fear of litigation is unethical and violates the oath and creed to “first do no harm” that all doctors agree to when they become registered practitioners.

It once was popular to deliver subsequent babies [following a cesarean] by vaginal birth, but by the late 1990s the practice began to fall out of favor because of potential risks.

Potential risks – yes, it is possible that a woman’s uterus may rupture during labor. The risk of rupture may be as low as .5%, and any doctor who puts forward a rate of greater than 1% should be asked for the research to support such a statistic. Avoiding induction and augmentation of labor and having continuous labor support (an experienced doula and/or midwife) will help VBAC moms achieve their goals.